Music ROCK&POP/ CELTIC CONNECTIONS
life with a set featuring their classic soul hits as well as new material. ■ The Last September and Lindsay & The Storm The Jazz Bar, 1 Chambers Street, 220 4298. 8pm. £5. Folky indie and mellow multi- instrumentalism. ■ Future Heroes The Jazz Bar, 1 Chambers Street, 220 4298. 11.30pm. £2–£3. See Thu 2.
CELTIC CONNECTIONS Events are listed by date, then city. Submit listings at least 16 days before publication to henry@list.co.uk. Listings are compiled by Henry Northmore. ✽✽ Indicates Hitlist entry
Thursday 2 Glasgow FREE Danny Kyle’s Open Stage Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, 2 Sauchiehall Street, 353 8000. 5pm. Hosted by Danny Kyle’s good friend Liz Clark, a chance to see new musical talent before the young guns make it big, and watch as they compete to win a support slot at next year’s festival. ■ Blues of the World featuring Moussu T, Pura Fe & John Trudell and Errol Linton O2 ABC, 330 Sauchiehall Street, 353 8000. 7.30pm. £15. A showcase of differing blues traditions. Marseille-based quartet Moussu T e lei jovents sing in their native Occitan tongue, Pura Fe and John Trudell blend native and black American traditions and Brixton’s Errol Linton adds reggae and ska to the mix. Plus Memphis singer-songwriter Keith B Brown. ■ Hidden Orchestra and Chapelier Fou Òran Mór, 731-735 Great Western
Road, 357 6200. 7.30pm. £14. Jazzy cinematic soundscapes from Hidden Orchestra (Formerly Joe Acheson Quartet). ■ Jonathan Wilson The Arches, 253 Argyle Street, 565 1000. 7.30pm. £14. Alt.country with a 70s vibe. ■ Transatlantic Sessions Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, 2 Sauchiehall Street, 353 8000. 7.30pm. £25–£28. A Celtic Connections staple and the epitome of what the festival is all about, the Transatlantic Sessions bring together musicians from the Celtic and Americana traditions for a night of fresh collaborations between familiar faces. Musical directors for this year’s sessions are Shetland fiddle legend Aly Bain and dobro star Jerry Douglas, singers include Raul Malo, Ruth Moody of The Walin’ Jennys, Declan O’Rourke, Eddi Reader, Karen Matheson, Tim O’Brien, Darrell Scott and Bruce Molsky, and the house band line-up is stellar enough to be the main attraction at most other folk concerts. ■ Andy White The Glasgow Art Club, 185 Bath Street, 248 5210. 8pm. £10. A little bit of politics and a lot of wit from the perennially likeable Irish folk rock singer-songwriter. ■ Kathryn Tickell Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, 2 Sauchiehall Street, 353 8000. 8pm. £13. Lively fiddle music and haunting pipes in this special ‘Northumbrian Voices’ show in collaboration with theatre director Annie Rigby. A mix of words, music and performance featuring anecdotes and dialogue from her father Mike and Hannah Rickard plus traditional and original music with Kit Haigh, Patsy Reid and Jim Sutton. FREE Travelling Folk BBC Scotland, 40 Pacific Quay, 353 8000. 8pm. Ticketed. Bruce MacGregor hosts a recording with music and chat from the best in Irish and Scottish music.
Margins Book & Music Festival
■ Woody Sez Tron Theatre, 63 Trongate, 353 8000. 8pm. £13. Woody Guthrie, troubadour of the Great Depression, seemed like a safely historical figure when Billy Bragg and Wilco brought some of his old lyrics to life back at the turn of the millennium. Now he’s practically singing the headlines. Melting Pot Theatre Company’s production features four actor-musicians dramatising the story of the most cussed, ornery, brilliantly defiant singer-songwriter that ever stuck up two fingers to the laws of copyright. ■ Four Men & a Dog Big Band and Broken Strings The Old Fruitmarket, Candleriggs, 353 8000. 9.30pm. £16. Popular Irish outfit of some 22 years standing, who actually number eight good men for this appearance. Danny Kyle Awards winners Broken Strings are a teenage instrumental seven-piece from Orkney. ■ Celtic Connections Festival Club Apollo 23, 11 Renfrew Street, 332 8209. 10pm. £8. Special late-night club running every night of the Celtic Connections festival, providing you with somewhere to hear more music once the gigs are over with special unbilled appearances from performing artists and food and drink in plentiful supply. ■ Celtic Connections Late Night Sessions Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, 2 Sauchiehall Street, 353 8000. 10pm. £6. Not ready to go home yet? Join this informal session with a drink in hand and perhaps you’ll catch a unique meeting of musical minds as various festival performers collaborate.
Friday 3 Glasgow FREE Danny Kyle’s Open Stage Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, 2 Sauchiehall Street, 353 8000. 5pm. See Thu 2.
■ The Boy and the Bunnet Tron Theatre, 63 Trongate, 353 8000. 7pm. £13 (family £35). James Ross and James Robertson’s piece was conceived as a Scottish answer to Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf, as a boy gets lost in the woods and has various adventures to the accompaniment of different instruments. This is the Scots premiere, with Gerda Stevenson as narrator and a host of Scottish talent including Corrina Hewat (harp/vocal), Patsy Reid (fiddle), Neil Johnstone (cello), Angus Lyon (accordion), Fraser Fifield (pipes) and Signy Jakobsdottir (percussion). ■ Average White Band Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, 2 Sauchiehall Street, 353 8000. 7.30pm. £20–£25. The funkiest band ever to come from Dundee – or Scotland for that matter – play Celtic Connections for the first time. Founder members Alan Gorrie and Onnie McIntyre are a bit long in the tooth these days but they can still recapture that Detroit/Philly sound with their US bandmates. Fellow Dundonian Michael Marra, jazz chanteuse Niki King and Hue & Cry prepare to get funky in their company. ■ The Black Rose Ceilidh Band Pearce Institute, 840 Govan Road, 353 8000. 7.30pm. £10. Alasdair MacCuish and his ensemble rock the house at a live ceilidh. ■ Laura Veirs and Emily Barker & the Red Clay Halo The Arches, 253 Argyle St, 565 1000. 7.30pm. £14. A haunting, sparse mix of deadpan folk and blues from US singer-songwriter Veirs. ■ Mull Historical Society and Washington Irving O2 ABC, 330 Sauchiehall Street, 353 8000. 7.30pm. £15. Colin Macintyre has resurrected his Mull Historical Society moniker for forthcoming album City Awakenings, inspired by Glasgow, London and New York. With raucous indie folk support from Washington Irving.
The musical side of this three-day literary fest at the Arches is not to be sniffed at. Ali Roberts, Withered Hand and Roody Woomble (above) make up a three-man bill on Fri 24 Feb. While on Saturday it’s Malcolm Middleton’s Human Don’t Be Angry, followed by Aidan Moffat & Bill Wells, with rumours of Middleton and Moffat joining forces for some Arab Strap numbers. See books events, page 52 for each day’s full line-up. ■ The Arches, Glasgow, Fri 24–Sun 26 Feb, marginsfestival.com. 100 THE LIST 2 Feb–1 Mar 2012